Complete removal of AutoCAD may be required both when installing a new version of the product, and as a necessity arising after unsuccessful integration of plugins and add-ons, which caused a critical program failure. In many cases, it comes down to reinstalling the OS, although this is not always necessary.
Why is it not always easy to uninstall Autocad 2013?
Autocad 2013 is a software product that is very demanding on the resources of the operating system and hardware. During installation, Acad reserves space in a number of directories on the system local disk and in the volume on which the installation was performed. In addition, Autodesk products make changes to the registry in two of its branches and place the license files in two directories on the local media. When reinstalling, the Autocad installer may detect traces of the previous version on the computer and will not be able to complete the installation correctly, so you should completely get rid of the previously installed program.
Preparing to uninstall
The uninstall procedure takes about 20 minutes and is very simple.
Before you start uninstalling Autocad 2013, you need to:
- disable antivirus software so that it does not block the deletion of executable files, libraries and editing the registry;
- create a system restore point;
- create a backup copy of the system registry;
- install the Microsoft Fixit utility for Windows;
- quit all applications.
Complete removal of Autocad 2013 and other versions
The first stage of uninstallation is carried out using the standard Windows utility "Remove Programs". First, all add-ons to the Autocad program are removed, then the CAD complex itself. This is followed by the removal of the program by means of the already installed Fixit. After uninstallation, you may be prompted to reboot the system, which must be accepted.
This is followed by deleting the license files. They are located in C: / ProgramData / FLEXnet for Windows 7 or Windows Vista and C: / Documents and Settings / All Users / Application Data / FLEXnet for Windows XP. The license files in both cases are named adskflex_tsf.data and adskflex_tsf.data.backup.
After uninstalling the program, the working folders of the program remain on the hard disk, which must be deleted manually. The best way to do this is to search for folders on the system drive as requested by Autodesk. Do not forget to empty the trash, or use the Shift + Delete key combination when deleting.
Finally, you need to clear the Temp folder on the system drive and delete the registry keys HKEY_CURRENT_USER / Software / Autodesk and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / Software / Autodesk. Then you will need to restart your computer, after which you need to create a new restore point and a new backup copy of the registry, after which you can consider Autocad 2013 completely removed from your computer.
